Search results matching tags 'Speaking' and 'Society'http://sqlblog.com/search/SearchResults.aspx?o=DateDescending&tag=Speaking,Society&orTags=0Search results matching tags 'Speaking' and 'Society'en-USCommunityServer 2.1 SP2 (Build: 61129.1)Sequels for SQL: Dec 17, 2009http://sqlblog.com/blogs/kevin_kline/archive/2009/12/17/sequels-for-sql-dec-17-2009.aspxThu, 17 Dec 2009 17:46:00 GMT21093a07-8b3d-42db-8cbf-3350fcbf5496:20070KKline<p>In the Sequels for SQL series, I point you to sites where you can go
beyond the nose-to-the-grindstone resources that we see every day as
SQL Server professionals.&nbsp; (My favorite resource for pan-SQL Server
pointers is Steve Jone's Database Weekly email newsletter.)&nbsp; These are
the story that comes after and outside (the sequels) of our daily
working lives (the other SQL).&nbsp; Let's broaden our horizons together.&nbsp;
If you hit on an interesting but overlooked topic, I'd like to hear
from you.</p>
<h3><i>SQL Server: We live it.&nbsp; We love it.</i></h3>
<p style="padding-left:30px;">When <a href="http://blogs.msdn.com/jimmymay/" title="Jimmy May, the Aspiring Geek" target="_blank">Jimmy May</a>
talks, I listen.&nbsp; Not just because he's a personal friend, but also
because he knows what's what, if you'll pardon the expression.&nbsp; So when
Jimmy says "I believe xPerf will fundamentally change the way I do my
job", then I want to know what the heck this free xPerf management tool
is and how I can best leverage it.&nbsp; Check out Jimmy's blog entry on
xPerf <a href="http://blogs.msdn.com/jimmymay/archive/2009/09/08/xperf-once-i-was-blind-and-now-i-see.aspx" title="Jimmy May on xPerf performance management tool" target="_blank">here</a>.</p>
<h3><i>Devices &amp; Gadgets: Usually making our lives better, sometimes not so much.</i></h3>
<p style="padding-left:30px;">Ever wonder what's inside one of those tiny USB hard drives?&nbsp; No?&nbsp; Not even <i>a little bit</i>?!?&nbsp;
When I started in IT, hard drives where as big as washing machines and
cost $60,000 running at speeds in the 100's of RPMs.&nbsp; My how times have
changed.&nbsp; Here's a fun hack of a USB hard drive - <a href="http://www.dansworkshop.com/electricity-and-electronics/usb-hard-drive-hack.htm" title="Dan's Workshop, a maker's blog" target="_blank">http://www.dansworkshop.com/electricity-and-electronics/usb-hard-drive-hack.htm</a>.</p>
<h3><i>Futurewatch: Important issues just over the horizon.</i></h3>
<p style="padding-left:30px;">There
are a lot of standard elements of society being rebranded as the "2.0"
version of itself.&nbsp; The 2.0 moniker was first put forward by visionary
Tim O'Reilly (<a href="http://radar.oreilly.com/" title="Tim O'Reilly's blog - read it!" target="_blank">blog</a> | <a href="http://www.twitter.com/timoreilly" title="Tim's Twitter Page" target="_blank">twitter</a>), of the eponymous media company. Whenever you see the 2.0 moniker added to the end of something, most famously <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_2.0" title="Wikipedia explains Web 2.0" target="_blank">Web 2.0</a>,
then you know that it will include the characteristics of
collaboration, interoperability, and user-centered designs.&nbsp; So,
whereas the first go at the web in the mid- to late-1990's was about
enabling information retrieval such as transforming printed catalogs
into on-line catalogs, Web 2.0 enables all of its participants to
comment on, review, rate, and otherwise participating with each other
in the use of such a catalog.&nbsp; In the last FutureWatch blurb, <a href="http://kevinekline.com/2009/11/25/the-seven-sequels-for-sql-the-week-of-november-27-2009/" title="Grid 2.0" target="_blank">I pointed out work on Grid 2.0</a>,
centered on efforts to update the USA's electricity grid.&nbsp; I'm going to
do a much more detailed post in the near future about emerging 2.0
efforts, but one to point out now is Gov 2.0.&nbsp; Under this broad set of
initiatives, governments from the lowest to highest levels of
responsibility are opening up their public databases for consumption by
the public.&nbsp; An example of Gov 2.0 in action comes with the President's
SAVE Award, in which the public is invited to vote on their pick for
the best money saving tip put forward by federal government workers.&nbsp;
Read all about this year's SAVE Award <a href="http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/save/SaveAwardHomePage/" title="Gov 2.0 - Securing American Values and Efficiency Award" target="_blank">here</a>.</p>
<h3><i>Humor: I haz da funny.</i></h3>
<p style="padding-left:30px;">Weird products in Japan have their own name - <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chind%C5%8Dgu" title="Chindogu - say what?!?" target="_blank">chindogu</a>.&nbsp; Most of these are crackpot inventions that everyone knows will never see the light of day, such as these these featured <a href="http://freakonomics.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/03/25/freak-shots-only-in-japan/?utm_source=feedburner&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_campaign=Feed%3A+FreakonomicsBlog+%28Freakonomics+Blog%29" title="Freakonomics Chindogu" target="_blank">here</a>.&nbsp;
However, some of these products DO get marketed and, more amazingly,
purchased.&nbsp; Check out the product reviews of this totally bizarro
chindogu <a href="http://www.overstock.com/Home-Garden/Hug-Me-Pillow/1676854/product.html?token=147211-147211200911193466642-1-e6f899&amp;track=emailcusts&amp;cid=147211&amp;fp=f" title="Hug Me Pillow at Overstock.com" target="_blank">here</a> at Overstock.com.</p>
<h3><i>Professional Development: Because there are two words in "database professional".</i></h3>
<p style="padding-left:30px;">There
are mountains of great websites with tips on how to be a better
speaker.&nbsp; Some day, I'll write a long blog post about my favorite sites
for learning how to improve your oration.&nbsp; But if you're in a
hurry, and who isn't these days, then <a href="http://blogs.techrepublic.com.com/10things/?p=802&amp;tag=nl.e106" title="Tech Republic - 10 Easy Ways to Improve Your Public Speaking" target="_blank">this blog post</a> at TechRepublic succinctly sums up the advice you'll find from many other web sites, articles, and blogs.</p>
<h3><i>Society: Important issues to discuss with your friends and family.</i></h3>
<p style="padding-left:30px;">One of
the most remarkable things about the USA, as a rather biased citizen,
is our ability to suck up our pride, admit a mistake, and try to
prevent it from happening again.&nbsp; One way that the USA tries to prevent
future occurrences is to convene a commission of some kind.&nbsp; I found <a href="http://radar.oreilly.com/2009/09/ready-fire-aim-market-reform.html" title="David Leinweber &quot;Ready, Fire, Aim&quot;" target="_blank">this analysis</a> by <a href="http://radar.oreilly.com/davidl" title="David Leinweber on O'Reilly.com" target="_blank">David Leinweber</a>,
a Haas Fellow in Finance and Founding Director of the Center for
Innovative Financial Technology at UC Berkeley, of the commission
studying banking market reform in the USA to be quite intriguing and, frankly, upsetting.</p>
<h3><i>WorldView: If James Bond knows that the world is not enough, then so should I.</i></h3>
<p style="padding-left:30px;">I'm
always on the lookout for issues related to safe and clean water.&nbsp; If
you think people can be grumpy when oil is in short supply, imagine
what it's like when there's not enough drinking water for everyone.&nbsp;
See how India is dealing with enormous water issues <a href="http://www.economist.com/displaystory.cfm?story_id=14401149" title="The Economist - India's Water Crisis" target="_blank">in this revealing article from the Economist</a>.&nbsp; And I'd be interested to hear what our Indian blogger friends thoughts are on this topic, folks like <a href="http://sqlblog.com/blogs/rushabh_mehta/" title="Rushabh Mehta's Blog" target="_blank">Rushabh Mehta</a>, <a href="http://beyondrelational.com/blogs/jacob/" title="Beyond Relational - Jacob Sebastian's Blog" target="_blank">Jacob Sebastian</a>, and <a href="http://blog.sqlauthority.com/" title="SQL Authority - Pinal Dave's Blog" target="_blank">Pinal Dave</a>.&nbsp; (Water issues have remained one of my passions ever since my years working for NASA developing <a href="http://www.nasa.gov/centers/marshall/pdf/104840main_eclss.pdf" title="ECLSS, the Environmental Control and Life Support System of the International Space Station" target="_blank">the water recycling systems for the International Space Station</a>, in which we made water of the H20 that passes through the human body re-drinkable.&nbsp; <i>And it tastes good</i>.&nbsp;
Incidentally, all of the technology we developed for this project, as
with all non-classified government projects, became public domain.&nbsp;
ECLSS technology is now used in hundreds of commercial products ranging
from household detergents to commercial solvents to filtration systems.)</p><p>
</p>
<p>Thanks!</p>
<p>-Kevin</p>
<p>Twitter @KEKline</p><p>&nbsp;More content at http://KevinEKline.com <br></p><p>
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